After months of trying to overcome a $15 million budget gap, the Bayonne City Council introduced a revised $135 million budget at last night’s meeting.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The new $135,462,809.69 budget, down about $60,000 from April, saw a number of new items added ranging from grants, to a citywide communication system and “the monetization of Port Authority revenue added in at $12,454,344,” according to the changes read into the record by City Clerk Bob Sloan.
Since this was the introduction of the new budget, the matter was not opened for public comment.
At a special council meeting in July, Bayonne CFO Terrence Malloy said that residents would expect to see a $218 annual tax increase in 2016, about a 2.27 percent spike from last year.
Earlier in July, the council opted to moved forward with a $27.9 million deal with an out-of-state securities firm.
The City of Bayonne had a $45 million deal in place with the Port Authority, but recently entertained selling off nearly two-thirds of those assets to the Chicago-based securities firm William Blair & Company. The city has since approved the deal.
The governing body deemed the agreement necessary after Kate Howard LTD backed out of a deal with the city to develop Harbor Station South in April, leaving a $15 million hole in the budget.
The city announced Kate Howard LTD as the developer back in September.
Furthermore, at the June council meeting, the Whippany-based JMF Properties received approval to develop townhouses and retail establishments on 16 acres of Harbor Station South.
In a Hudson County View exclusive back in June, prior to that month’s council meeting, Bayonne officials – including Assemblyman Nick Chiaravalloti – (D-31, whose law firm served as counsel to the defunct project) said they hope to bring a ferry terminal to the former Military Ocean Terminal.
Fake journalism. What happened to jcmc fake non profit property tax fraud story?
Lol, what is “fake” about this? It’s about as comprehensive as it gets and none of it came from a press release, which I know hurts your heart :-P. We don’t have a copy of the suit yet and no one will comment, will have to go the courthouse and get a copy.